Don't forget about the spinoffs:
1) http://bettermotherfuckingwebsite.com/
2) https://thebestmotherfucking.website/
Personally, i think that the sweet spot lies somewhere in the middle:
- use a basic CSS framework to save time on design but without introducing too much bloat (e.g. Skeleton or PureCSS come to mind, maybe Bootstrap if you really really want to, instead of something heavier like Foundation)
- focus on simplicity in your site, don't get too caught up with dynamic elements (e.g. more like documents/forms rather than a visual experience)
- if you need complex form validations, you may use something like Vue, but consider proper bundle splitting; alternatively just do server side rendering if that's acceptable (especially if you want to support your site being used without JS)
- don't forget that you'll still absolutely be judged by your users - sites that look too old timey might just turn off some users from using your thing, just the way things are
Here's a nice presentation about website bloat (from 7 years ago, though little has changed):
https://idlewords.com/talks/website_obesity.htmHere's my boring homepage, for example: https://kronis.dev/
The heaviest thing on it probably is the icon font (a legacy from the days past, from the Materialize library, instead of just SVG icons or even emojis), but it would absolutely exclude me from many front-end dev/designer positions (apart from the HTML/CSS being lazily written, of course).